[[quoteright:259:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/VladamirPutin_9686.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:259:Doesn't he look straight out of a ''Film/JamesBond'' film?]]

-->''[[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart]]. [[WideEyedIdealist Whoever wants to restore it back as it was has no brain]].''
--->--'''Vladimir Putin''', paraphrasing a quote by French historian and statesman François Guizot

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 1952) is [[WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs sometimes the President, sometimes the Prime Minister of Russia]]. Used to be a KGB boss in EastGermany, then worked for the [=FSB=], the successor organization to the KGB. Once possibly single-handedly saved a group of people from a wild tiger. Will not stand for rogue states seeking to possess [[Franchise/StarTrek nuclear wessels]] (unless they're Iran).

[[AwesomeMcCoolName Bad Vlad]], as he is known, has also gained significant MemeticBadass stature on the intrawebs, due to being, well, a scrotum-crushing {{Badass}}. The stories of his KGB days, his [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking expertise in Judo]], and the fact that he looks like Creator/DanielCraig help this. This is slightly undermined by the fact that he also looks like [[Film/HarryPotter Dobby]].

Putin is very popular in Russia, with [[BrokenBase around half of the people]] supporting him and his party, United Russia. The main reasons people support him besides his MemeticBadass image include his successful efforts to increase Russian influence on the world stage. During his tenure, the Russian economy strengthened (although in no small part due to high oil prices) and [[TheNewRussia the power of the]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive oligarchs]] - or at least, those not in bed with the state - declined. However, some people claim he owes his high approval ratings to heavy-handed propaganda campaigns and ruthless persecution of opponents (like [[SacrificialLion Khodorkovsky]]). Some more people claim that his popularity is artificially inflated by a political machine that makes Boss Tweed green with envy, and they may be right after all, judging by the vehemence of 2011 protest demonstrations. His rule is associated with high amounts of corruption and weakening of civil rights (economic rights too).

Putin is criticized abroad for his aggressive foreign policy and increasingly autocratic rule. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Let's leave it at that.]] But Putin isn't letting the criticisms get him down, maintaining the lion's share of power after his chosen "successor" as President, Dmitry "I-will-transmit-this-information-to-Vladimir" Medvedev, [[MeetTheNewBoss officially took over]] as head of state in 2008. He ran for President again in 2012, swapping places with Medvedev, and won. While there were no serious challengers to Putin's candidacy, [[MemeticMutation the Russian people had their largest protests of all time]] (since the fall of the Soviet Union) and the slogan "Russia without Putin" became a rallying cry; however, when interviewed, many protestors said they had no objection to Putin's leadership so much as potential long-term constitutional norms. Western scholars and journalists (e.g., ''{{Slate}}'', ''Foreign Policy'') have increasingly begun describing Putin as a "petty tyrant" with limited soft and hard power, but foreign policy experts also failed to predict the end of the [=USSR=], so [[TakeAThirdOption it's anyone's guess]]. Putin recently strengthened the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an international organization (that does -- or did -- nothing and was created as a symbol of cooperation) it helms with China. Both China and Russia are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and TheNewTens have seen the emergence of China and Russia forming a tacit alliance within the [=UNSC=].

In 2007, the international politics research group [[http://freedomhouse.org Freedom House]] changed Russia's status from a free (democratic) state to "not free."[[hottip:note:Political scientists often use Freedom House scores as a benchmark for comparing states across various indices, as despite the imperfections in the data, it's a complete set.]] International relations scholars had already suggested as much several years earlier. Regardless, it is impossible to overstate how much Putin has done to return Russia to a functional state, and what his legacy will be in the west is very much an open question.

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!!Tropes:
* AdventurerArchaeologist: One of his more infamous publicity stunts included "accidentally" finding an ancient Greek urn while scuba-diving in the Black Sea.
* BaldOfAwesome
* BloodKnight: Was [[http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/02/19/portrait-of-the-young-vladimir-putin.html allegedly]] this when he was a young man, according to some sources. Indeed, he joined the Young Pioneers very late (some say not at all) because of his propensity for playground brawling.
-->'''Newsweek interviewee''': ''A tram pulled up, but it was not going where we needed to go. Two huge drunken men got off and started trying to pick a fight with somebody. They were cursing and pushing people around. Vovka calmly handed his bag over to me, and then I saw that he had just sent one of the men flying into a snowbank, face first. The second one turned around and started at Volodya, screaming, ‘What was that?’ A couple of seconds later he knew exactly what it was, because he was lying there next to his buddy. That was just when our tram pulled up. If there is anything I can say about Vovka, it’s that he never let bastards and rascals who insult people and bug them get away with it.''
* BlueBlood: Maybe. There are no ancestral records of anyone beyond Vladimir's grandfater, Spiridon Ivanovich Putin, who has the surname "Putin" who could reasonably be connected to Vladimir Vladimirovich. It has been suggested by ''[[http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/05-11-2002/1528-putin-0/ Pravda]]'' that he may be a descendant of the royal Tverskoy family - the family book of Tver (where Spiridon was from), mentions an aristocratic family called the House of Putyanin, descendants of Prince Mikhail of Tver, a Russian Orthodox saint and Mediaeval potentate. It was common practice to abbreviate the names of Russian aristocratic families, so it is not impossible that Putyanin could become Putin.
* TheChessmaster: Is often ascribed a Machiavellian genius of epic proportions.
** This guy is sometimes described as the real-life [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Lord Vetinari]].
** He's also been described as the closest the world could get to a Blofeld-type [[JamesBond Bond villain]].
* ConspiracyTheorist: Probably not one himself, but he, despite his authoritarian and bond villain-style nature has actually garned a fanbase among actual conspiracy theorists, who consider him (and, to a lesser extent, depending on who you ask, the leaders of China) one of the few leaders against the NWO and the Illuminati. Through this isn't due to overlooking his authoritarian traits or a DracoInLeatherPants style admiration of his policies, but more due to massive CulturalCringe aimed against the West and criticism of it's foreign policy. It may also be outright cynicism along the lines of "our leaders say Putin sucks, [[AntiAdvice so he must be perfect]]".
** Except for certain conspiracy theorists like Henry Makow and some Russian conspiracy theorists who consider Putin NWO's prime puppet in Russia.
** He's also the subject of a conspiracy theory related to the apartment bombings that triggered the Second Chechen War, which produced a tremendous amount of public support for the heretofore unknown Putin. It's alleged that [=FSB=][[hottip:*:Internal security, or, if you're an American, Russia's equivalent to the FBI.]] agents placed the bombs as part of a massive FalseFlagOperation in order to provide an excuse to restart the war and to make Putin a national hero. Even the most savage critics of Putin's rule can be found debunking this one, although the idea refuses to die.
* DeadpanSnarker: The term "Putinisms" was coined for his most famous snarks, such as the brief "It sunk" in response to Larry King's question about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Kursk_explosion the Kursk submarine]]. CaptainObvious reportedly died of envy when he heard that.
* EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas[=/=]InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike: "P-u-t-i-n" in French would be pronounced the same as ''putain'', which is French for "whore". As a result, the French Academy in Paris recommended that his name be spelt "Poutine" in French, which approximates the Russian pronunciation. However, in Canada, "poutine" is a very popular dish consisting of ''pommes frites'', cheese curds, and gravy.... Cue jokes across Canada (and not just French Canada, since even Anglophone Canadians know what poutine is). The news even hit the US, when [[GrammarNazi William Safire]] learned about the issue and dedicated a disapproving "On Language" column in ''The New York Times'' in 2005.
** In Spanish, his name does tend to sound something like ''little male prostitute''.
* FalseFlagOperation: Several supposed terrorist attacks have been blamed on the FSB trying to incite terror and inspire the Russians to rally behind Putin.
** To be more specific, the 1999 apartment bombings that triggered the Second Chechen War are the subject of a conspiracy theory. As Putin was relatively unknown at the time Yeltsin chose him, Putin suddenly found himself in the spotlight and became a national hero for his comments regarding the incidents. According to conspiracy theorists, the [=FSB=] murdered civilians and fabricated the terrorist plot in order to gain public support for a re-invasion of Chechnya and for Putin's rule. The 2004 Beslan incident (in which terrorists made hostages of ''primary school children'') and the Moscow metro bombings are ''usually'' not tied into conspiracy theories.
* FanNickname: Media (outside Russia at least) frequently refer to him and Medvedev as Vova and Dima.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Has used several eco-themed publicity stunts to bolster his image, including ''flying with cranes''.
* HairTriggerTemper: When he was younger, he took shit from precisely no-one:
-->'''Newsweek''': ''“If anyone ever insulted him in any way,” a friend recalled, “Volodya would immediately jump on the guy, scratch him, bite him, rip his hair out by the clump—do anything at all never to allow anyone to humiliate him in any way.”''
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Essentially everyone who knew Putin before he became president is either working for him, living in exile, or dead.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Not him specifically, but he and his supporters accuse the West of this whenever they criticize his policies, which may be somewhat TruthInTelevision. In academia, this is much less prominent, as turn-of-the-century Russia was frequently likened to America's "Robber-Baron" era.
* KickedUpstairs: Was appointed Prime Minister in 1999, in the middle of a permanent government crisis (in a year, Russia went through ''four'' Prime Ministers), a terrorist insurgency in North Caucasus, financial instability, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and President Boris Yeltsin's failing health]]. Prime Minister at the time was a completely thankless role that had wrecked several prominent political careers, and Putin wasn't expected to do any differently. [[ReassignmentBackfire And yes he did]].
* LoopholeAbuse: Has successfully gamed the shaky and unbalanced legal system left behind by Yeltsin. For instance: the Russian constitution limits a president to two ''consecutive'' terms; it does not, however, limit the number of terms a president can serve ''in his lifetime''. You do the math.
* LoyalAnimalCompanion: His black lab, Koni, who goes with him ''everywhere.'' She's even with Putin during press conferences and meetings with other world leaders, at one point terrifying Germany's dog-phobic Angela Merkel before snuggling up against her feet.
* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: In the West, he is often cited as "rebuilding Russia's military might", indulging in "nationalist chest-thumping" and adopting an "aggressive foreign policy". His detractors in Russia claim that he's been running the army further into the ground all the time. [[TakeAThirdOption Both sides had a point.]]
* ManBehindTheMan: During the interlude between his presidential terms. Dmitri Medvedev was his hand-picked successor, and as Putin stayed on board the government as Prime Minister, it's clear who was ''really'' in charge.
* MemeticSexGod: Invoked in his 2012 campaign ads.
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong
* TheNapoleon: Actually quite short.
* TheNewRussia: One of its most prominent figures. Arguably, he ''is'' the New Russia, as Yeltsin's rule was somewhat chaotic, to put it politely, and the Russian state that now exists was formed by Putin.
* NoodleIncident: What did he do during his time in the KGB?
** Nothing much. He was a mid-level bureaucrat managing some low-importance agents in the former East Germany, then retired (his official rank is just Lieutenant Colonel) and went to work for his long-time friend and then a Saint Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. It is ''there'' he started to gain political prominence, which has eventually led to him being made first a ''civilian'' head of the FSB, a KGB's successor, and then a Yeltsin's last PM.
** Using an interpreter at an official meeting is required by the diplomatic protocol, because interpreters also serve as the official witnesses. Even if both meeting figures know each other's languages perfectly, their meeting ''without'' the interpreters could be only unofficial.
* PermanentElectedOfficial: May be on the road to this. The wheel of history is still in spin, but if he keeps up that LoopholeAbuse example above...
* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Cultivates a President Action image. Is in reality well-known to be President Iron. Portrayed by his detractors both in Russia and abroad as PresidentEvil or at least President Corrupt. And always a [[TheChessmaster President Scheming]].
** A joke circulated a while ago stating that the Russian voted for him so that they'd have a president that could physically beat the crap out of all other world leaders if worst came to worst.
* PintSizedPowerhouse
* RatedMForManly: Has successfully cultivated a macho image by posing shirtless or in wife beaters (revealing his mighty pecs) and indulging in manly hobbies (hunting, hiking, scuba-diving, and ''flying fighter planes'').
* ARealManIsAKiller: Of animals ''at least''.
* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Dima's blue.
* ShirtlessScene: So often he's practically a WalkingShirtlessScene.
* ShoutOut: His personal vehicle has the license plate number [[Film/JamesBond 007]]. (As if you didn't think he was a Bond villain already.)
* ShroudedInMyth: His past and his ancestry has been described as this in Western media, with varying degrees of accuracy - his family tree can be traced to his grandfather, but no further, though there are some theories (see above). His past is fairly well-documented, however - he led a reasonably typical 1950s-60s Soviet childhood, with perhaps an unusual propensity for martial arts.
* TearsOfJoy: His tears during a rally after his victory in the 2012 elections were captured on camera and quickly went memetic.
** Actually, a number of media outlets implies that the tears were caused by harsh winter wind. [[MenDontCry Maybe.]]
* VetinariJobSecurity: Even his ''supporters'' acknowledge that he has a lot of flaws as a president, but still vote for him because they don't see a viable alternative.
** To understand Putin's airtight political support in Russia, one has to understand how miserable Russian life was in the 1990s. Under Putin's leadership not only has he been able to return Russia to a respected global influence, but the economy has grown by leaps and bounds, wages have more than tripled, poverty has more than halved, the standard of living has improved dramatically, and the country has become politically stable for the first time since [[TheSeventies Brezhnev's government was in charge]]. It's up to debate whether high oil/gas prices in the West did the trick despite/with Putin being in charge, but its easy to understand why the Russian public has kept him in power for so long.
** [[LesserOfTwoEvils Lesser Of Three Evils]]: His opponents in the 2012 election had been the [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman Communist]] Gennady Zyuganov and [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman Nationalist-Populist]] Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Did we mention that Zhirinovsky has released rap music?
** To an extent, Yeltsin also benefited from this trope, as he was able to stay in power despite his widespread unpopularity primarily because his biggest political opponent was the Russian Communist Party. But even then, he barely won reelection in 1996 over his communist opponent despite having rating of 8% six month before elections (Its now known in hindsight that the [[BillClinton Clinton administration]] [[TheManBehindtheMan propped up Yeltsin in the election]]). That's right, Yeltsin was so unpopular that nearly half of the Russian population was willing to go back to communism if it meant that they could get rid of him. He would leave office on the eve of Y2K with a ''2% approval rating''.
** Both Yeltsin and Putin have successfully invoked this trope by using presidential power and repression to prevent any viable rival from gaining popularity or national name recognition. It's sort of like Watergate in the US except it's been going on for two decades. One of the main things Russian political opposition demands is fair elections, though even they recognize that most people still vote for current government.
** Yeltsin benefited greatly from the largesse of the United States, who honestly believed Zhirinovsky was a threat and engaged in "helpful" meddling. Whether Russia was ever a democracy is a contentious question, as Yeltsin's rule was inept at best, and the majority of early scholarship regarding Putin noted that many of his seemingly-authoritarian reforms were necessary. At the time Putin took office, asymmetric federalism was so entrenched that federal laws were enforced only if a region felt like it, pensioners weren't receiving payments, and the army wasn't getting paid either.


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